A Philosophical Identity Crisis
Chris Durante asks himself just what makes him the person he used to be.
What else can this possibly revolve around “for all practical purposes” except those aspects of our self that we are most certain about. Things about us most able to be demonstrated to others as in fact true. Me? Well I am in fact a white male. I am an American citizen. I live in Baltimore. I worked at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock company. Also at Bethlehem Steel. I was drafted into the Army. I was in Vietnam. I went to college at Towson State University. I majored in philosophy. I was a political activists for nearly 25 years in various radical/left wing organizations. I was married, divorced and helped to raise our daughter. And on and on and on with any number of facts about myself that I certainly consider to be crucial components of my own “personal identity”.
And who here can’t describe the same sort of demographic/circumstantial Me.
There’s that word again: theory.
“I” encompassed scholastically in a “world of words” in which “intellectual contraptions” take over the task of of pinning down what makes us “a single person”.
But, okay, fine. Come up with your theories. And then bring them to a thread like this where these intellectual assessments can be tested by taking them out into the world where the manner in which we see ourselves may not be at all in sync with the manner in which others see us.
And that’s the part where, in my view, the most crucial distinction has to be made between what we believe about ourselves in any particular set of circumstances and what we can demonstrate to others is in fact true…and that they ought to believe it as well.
Instead, the author takes us straight back up into the stratosphere:
Now, don’t get me wrong. Making distinctions of this sort can certainly be useful in grappling with our own physical and psychological self. We have to spend at least some time thinking through our behaviors in terms of the fundamental relationship between the mind and the body. How are they intertwined in any particular context assuming some measure pf autonomy. Where does nature pass the baton to nurture, and genes to memes in explaining what motivates our intentions in choosing this over that. How are both aspects of “I” entangled as we go about the business of actually living our lives.